Massachusetts Law Review

It is our hope that the legal implications of September 11, addressed in this special issue of the Massachusetts Law Review, will be of interest to our readers, will provide a springboard for legal and theoretical discussions of these issues, and will promote a sense of balance in understanding the competing interests of protection of civil liberties and the new, uncharted war on terrorism.

Few interests can be more compelling than a nation's need to ensure its own security. It is well to remember that freedom as we know it has been suppressed in many countries. Unless a society has the capability and will to defend itself from the aggressions of others, constitutional protections of any sort have little meaning.